Simple As That
by Dark Lady Eris
Summary: It's as much your fault as it is mine. We can point our fingers all damn night, but you know as well as I do...we're both crazy. BRIAN/VINCE DON'T LIKE DON'T READ! SONGFIC!


_A little one-shot to help me with my writer's block. Hopefully I can finish some stories I've been working on for the longest time now. Its short, but sweet I guess. Brian/Vince don't like don't read. I don't own the fast and furious franchise any lines or characters. The song in bold, is Simple As That, music from the show Nashville, Charles Esten is the singer, I don't own that either, obviously. I'm tone deaf! Constructive criticism is always welcomed, I do ask that there not be any name calling. I do this as a hobby I don't get paid, so please don't go out of your way to insult me. Thanks to everyone who continues to read my stories!_

"Brian!" Dom yelled out the minute the blonde man stepped outside of his house. Brian turned to look at Dom and held in his urge to roll his eyes at the man.

"What you need?" Brian asked keeping his tone neutral while putting his key into his lock and turning it to the left. He checked the knob twice before putting his back to it and walking off of his small crappy porch that was outside his small even crappier house.

Dom let his eyes travel up and down Brian taking in his appearance. The man looked tired, and not just in a psychical state. He was pulled in on himself, like his usual confidence and happiness was gone. Knowing what he did now; Dom guessed that maybe Brian's happiness was indeed gone. That was why he was there; he was going to help fix this giant mess. "Get in the car."

Brian narrowed his eyes, "if by car you mean mine, then fine that's what I was going to do anyways."

Dom did actually roll his eyes, "my car now O' Conner."

"No," Brian huffed, "I ain't..."

Dom growled, "don't you fucking finish that sentence!" He closed the distance in between him and Brian. The man looked like a skittish stray cat; it was the only way to describe him. Dom had plenty of practice handling strays; he knew Brian was a flighty one so he had to be careful. He placed his hand on Brian's shoulder, "look Bri, I don't care what happened, what didn't happen, what will happen. It doesn't change the fact that you're family, you got me?"

When Brian looked up to meet Dom's eyes his own were wide in hope and fear, it took Dom back for a moment, **it** was so intense. "Yeah?"

Dom nodded, "yeah Bri, always going to be family. So you don't walk out again, got me?"

"But Vince," Brian started to speak only to be cut off by Dom once again.

"Ain't what I'm here about, well at least right this second. Right now I'm here because you walked out that door. You picked up your bag and walked out, and you thought that was okay. Like he was the only thing tying you to us." He paused and looked at the blonde man. "I saw that look on your face, it was the same look you had when you told me you were a cop. The look that said I'm about to lose everything. You thought that we would take his side. Not only that, but you thought we would want you gone, didn't you?" Brian shrugged his shoulders, but Dom wasn't going to accept the non verbal answer. "Didn't you?"

"Yes, okay, yes. Why wouldn't you? I fucked things up again, and then I just left."

Dom watched Brian look down at his shoes like they were a lot more interesting than they really were. He knew what Brian thought, he was wrong though and Dom planned on setting it straight. "I ain't mad you left, not at you..."

"Vince didn't do anything wrong it was my fault..."

Dom held his hand up, "it wasn't just your fault. Vince told us everything, but like I said that ain't what I'm worried about right now. I'm not mad at Vince, I am mad at myself."

"Yourself? Why would you be angry with yourself, you didn't do anything."

Exactly," Dom said with a sigh, rubbing at the top of his head with the palm of his hand. "I didn't do anything." Brian gave Dom a confused look, and the bigger man threw him a patient smile in return, which just made Brian scowl and Dom chuckle. The chuckle didn't last long before he was once again turning serious with a frown on his face. "I don't know much about your past Bri, and I know it's going to be a while before I do. I know you need time," Dom reassured a panicked looking Brian. "I'm not asking you to spill your guts right now. I've always been a realist Bri, I know that we still need to gain your trust. It ain't gonna happen overnight, especially if what I think I know about your past is true. I just hope one day you will trust me enough to tell me." Brian rubbed at his arm and gave a jerky nod. "I know you didn't have a good childhood, I'm expecting teenage years weren't so great either," Brian shook his head no quietly, with a curious look on his face, that Dom knew said how did you know? "I see it on your face, every time someone does something nice for you, every time you are talked to or about as family, every time we sit down and eat together, do anything together as a family really. I see how confused, how scared you are. Afraid you're going to do something to mess it up. That's why I'm mad Bri, I should have said something a long time ago, but I didn't and I'm sorry. I should have told you there is nothing you can do to fuck it up, that your always family. I didn't want you to think I was making your lack of knowledge about it all a big thing, you have tendency to be a flight risk," Dom joked, but knew it fell flat when Brian didn't laugh. "Like I said I should have told you sooner, family is forever Brian, and it doesn't matter if you make a mistake, we ain't going to throw you away. You don't have to live your life waiting for the other shoe to drop, it's not gonna."

"I..." Brian said turning his head to the side, not sure what to say. "I never had..."

Dom nodded, "well you do now, and your never gonna be without one ever again. That means you can't just pick up and leave anymore though alright? We ain't ever gonna leave you, so you don't leave us."

Brian nodded slowly, "okay," he whispered still unable to speak.

"Okay," Dom said with a smile and flipped his keys on his fingers. Let's go then."

Brian looked at Dom with a raised eyebrow, "where?"

"Race," Dom shrugged, "after that we're coming back here to pack up this shit hole. Why the hell do you even have this place? You live with us; have since you came back from Miami. When did you get it?."

Brian shrugged, "This was where I lived before I went undercover, I never got rid of it. Insurance for when you wanted me to leave," the last sentence was said so quietly that Dom almost didn't hear it.

"Well," he said after a few moments of processing time. "We're getting rid of it; you don't need the insurance anymore."

Brian nodded and walked around to the passenger side of Dom's car. "Alright."

The street was as crowded as it always was, there was one major difference from a usual race night however, from what Brian could tell there was no racing. Instead everyone was gathered in some type of badly made circle around a car.

It wasn't until Brian got of Dom's vehicle that he recognized the car everyone standing around. A dark blue Nissan Maxima, with a very recognizable person sitting on its hood with a guitar.

Vince didn't give Brian a chance to speak, walk away, or do anything else. He started strumming on his strings the minute he locked eyes with the blonde.

 **It's as much your fault as it is mine. We can point our fingers all damn night, but you know as well as I do...we're both crazy.**

 **There ain't noone who can fight like us, go all twelve rounds, scream and cuss. Till we don't remember why we were even angry.**

" _You won't tell them because you still don't trust me!" Brian screamed at the other man, voice echoing off the walls of the empty house on Echo Park. It all came down to this, the lack of trust between the two of them._

 _Vince and Brian had been together, secretly, for two months, two wonderful months. Brian had been back in the team's lives for closer to a year, after he pulled a job in Miami to get them all full pardons. To say he was surprised when they stopped by in Florida to pick him up on their way back from Mexico would be understatement. They had however, walked back into his life with little to no fanfare. Dom told him to pack up his stuff, Mia helped, and then everyone collectively told him to get his ass in the car they were all going home. Rome and Tej weren't too happy about the new arrangement but they understood, had heard Brian talk about the team, and knew he thought of them as family. So they let him go, and Brian settled back into their lives almost flawlessly._

 _Of course Vince was little gruff towards the ex-cop in the beginning, but it wasn't for the same reasons he once had. No him and Brian danced around each other for six months, with nothing but obvious sexual tension between the two. Well obvious to both them, the rest of the team didn't seem to notice._

 _It all came to head one night in the shop, when Brian and Vince both stayed late to work on an old mustang that had been brought in that day. It happened as quick as a small lighting flash, one minute they were both griping at each other like normal, the next Brian's back was up against the mustang's hood and Vince was on top of him._

 _Things were good, I mean they still bitched at each other but it was more fond than hateful. Yeah they had fights, some of them were loud and cutting, but they always bounced back quickly and went right back to being happy again._

 _This time felt different though, it felt like the end of what they had. Because Brian was sick of sneaking around. "Jesus, it's not like I want to fucking make-out with you in the middle of the damn shop, I just don't want to lie to them anymore! I think I've done enough of that already." It was true, he started out with a lie, and he didn't want to keep to his fate in that way anymore. He didn't want to make excuses for why he wanted to stay at the shop late when Vince was there. He didn't want to set an alarm for fuckass early in the morning to sneak back to his room before anyone woke up. He just wanted to be with Vince, and be happy about it, not hide away like it was wrong._

 _Vince however didn't see it that way, every time Brian brought up telling everyone Vince either put him off, or said no very quickly. Brian had went through every possible reason why Vince might be against it. It wasn't that Brian was a guy; Vince never really gave two fucks about people's opinions on who he fucked. It wasn't that the team wouldn't approve Brian was pretty sure they would. So it all came down to trust, Vince didn't trust Brian, he didn't think that Brian was there for the right reasons, so he didn't want to take that step, didn't want to make things permanent._

 _Vince growled, "exactly you talk about trust in one sentence and then in the next talk about lying."_

" _But I'm not lying anymore! I'm here because I want to be! I'm not here because it's my job! I just want to be here...with you!"_

" _You don't even fucking trust me!" Vince yelled back, "it's a two way street! Every question about your past is evaded; sometimes silence and misdirection are just as much a lie!"_

" _Somethings shouldn't ever be talked about!" Brian hissed angrily, he knew his past was a delicate subject and he tended to get a little angry or even flighty about it. He was being honest though, it just didn't need to be talked about._

" _Then don't talk to me about trust until you're ready to trust back!"_

 _Brian looked at Vince, "so that's a no, on telling them."_

" _It's a no..."_

" _Tell us what?" Vince was cut off by Dom, who was followed by the rest of the family. Vince and Brian were so busy fighting they never saw anyone walk in._

 _Brian looked back at the team all looking at both of them expectantly, he couldn't help the sad look the crossed his face. When he looked back Vince he knew there were tears gathered in his eyes, but he didn't really care, "nothing to tell," he said quietly, "it's done anyways."_

 _He knew Vince's face must have been shocked, or maybe it wasn't maybe he felt like it was coming to that all along. He wouldn't ever know since he didn't stick around to find out, just walked out of the living room and into the guest room to grab his duffle._

 _He left after that, despite Dom, Mia, Jesse, and Leon following him all the way to his car asking where he was going. He didn't bother to tell them, that he was going to back to his dump of a house he had even before he went undercover. No one knew he still had it, he was living at Echo Park for all intents and purposes, but he knew this day would eventually come. Brian was a screw up, had always been. It's a wonder he even made it a year, that's why he kept his place, so he have somewhere to go to when he lost the only family he ever had._

Brian crossed his arms, but he knew there was hopeful look on his face while he listened to the man sing.

 **But you know I want you and I know you want me, and that's all that matters ain't it baby? I'm never singing, unless my song is for you. So slam the door and I'll slam it back. Baby I love you and it's as simple as that.**

Brian took a step back, he ran into Dom, who was obviously nominated for the job of keeping Brian from running away. It wasn't necessary however; he stepped back from shock, not the want to flee.

Sure he kind of felt like maybe Vince had something stronger than just regular I like you and we fuck feelings sometimes. It was the way he looked at Brian, or chuckled when Brian did something stupid and crazy. That fond look he got on his face, that's what made Brian think one day maybe Vince would love him. Nobody had ever looked at him like that.

He never expected that Vince did in fact already love him, but looking at his face while he sang those words Brian knew. He did really love him, the same way Brian loved him back.

 **Baby let's lay down and laugh about it. Ain't it good how good we got it? Cause you can dish it out and I can take it.**

 _Both men could fight that was damn for sure, Brian could scream and yell with the best of them, and Vince could land some nasty blows. But when they weren't fighting, when it was just the two of them, things were amazing._

 _Brian forgot all about the pain of his past, and he smiled probably more than he ever had. Vince he smiled and he laughed, a genuine real laugh. One that wasn't malicious and at someone else's expense._

 _Brian learned that Vince could be sweet and caring, and the way he wrapped Brian in his arms, made the blonde never want to leave._

 _He had missed that the most in the weeks they had been apart. He missed feeling that safety, warmth, what he now knew was love. He wanted it back that was for damn sure._

Vince's eyes hadn't left Brian the entire time he was singing, and Brian didn't think he could look more sincere, more sorry, but he was wrong.

 **But my heart...I know you'll never break it.**

Brian knew he meant it; this was Vince telling Brian that he trusted him; and it felt like a weight had been lifted off the blonde man.

It made him realize that he trusted Vince too, even if trusting others had never worked out for him in the past. He knew that he could tell this man anything and everything and it would be okay.

 **Cause you know I want you and I know you want me, and thats all that matters ain't it baby?**

Vince looked at Brian questioningly and Brian could see the fear that was hidden. Like he was afraid that Brian would say no, turn around and leave.

He didn't like seeing those emotions in Vince's eyes, couldn't stand it. He did the only thing he could think of and walked forward and nodded. He wanted Vince to know it was all that mattered.

Vince flashed Brian a huge smile and kept singing.

 **I'm never running, unless it's closer to you. So slam the door and I'll slam it back. Baby I love you and it's as simple as that.**

 _It really was simple when Brian thought about it; both of them were in love, who gave a shit about the rest of it._

 _They could figure it out, or not figure it out and it wouldn't really matter, because Brian wanted to be with Vince and that was what was going to happen._

He walked a few more steps till he was standing right in front of the brunette, he placed his hands on the top of Vince's knees and felt more like himself than he had in weeks.

Vince didn't stop singing however, he looked right at Brian and kept going. Putting everything he couldn't just say into the song.

 **It's an imaginary line we never cross, but it might seem like all is lost from the outside looking in. It ain't always black and white sometimes you're wrong sometimes I'm right, but it's all the same in the end.**

When Vince was finished with his song he set his guitar off the side and pulled Brian into his chest. Both men sighed in relief at the contact.

"I'm so sorry," Brian whispered, "I'm sorry, it shouldn't have mattered because all I want to do is be with you, and I don't care who else knows it or what I have to do to keep doing it."

"No Bri," Vince whispered into Brian's ear, "we should have told everyone a long time ago. Because I want everyone to know I'm with you, and plan to be for a long time. I know you're going to stick around, because you want them, me, a family. We both just wanted the same thing, trust."

"I'll tell you," Brian said quickly.

"Bri you don't have too I was just..."

"No, I trust you more than anyone I've been close to V, I'll do. It was never about trust; it's about it being painful to talk about. I want to tell you though; if I'm going to give you everything it has to be the bad parts too right?"

Vince nodded into the top of Brian's head, "I love you Bri, all parts of you."

Brian leaned his head up at the same time Vince leaned his down, the crowd of racers standing around them all let out a loud cheer when both men kissed.

"Alright! Alright!" Hector yelled out, "shows over time for a race."

Brian and Vince both parted to give the man a wicked grin. "You know Dom said on the way over I could borrow his car to kick your ass in if it would make me feel better."

Vince narrowed his eyes, "You think you're going to kick my ass Buster?"

"Oh I know I am," Brian said confidently, "and when I do you're going to give me a blowjob."

Vince snorted, "not going to happen, well a blowjob yes, but you're going to be giving not receiving."

"You saying I can't beat you?" Brian asked his own eyes narrowed.

"Exactly what I'm saying," Vince said staring at Brian in disbelief that he thought he could beat him.

Brian snorted, "Let's go then."

"You're on."

 **Cause you know I want you, I know you want me, and that's all that matters ain't baby? I'm never singing, unless my song is for you. So slam the door and I'll slam it back, because who's to blame don't change the fact, baby I love you and it's as simple as that.**


End file.
